Could cow manure be the future of green energy?

The next time you drive past a farm and smell cow manure,
here's something to think about while you're holding your nose.
The stinky stuff could someday be an inexpensive source for
fueling your car and powering your home.

The green energy concept is already in use in places around the
country and has been for years, but lately the technology has gone to a
whole new level.

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Fair Oaks Farm, in Fair Oaks, Indiana is not only one of the largest
dairy farms in the country, its also at the front end of
innovation. This 30,000 acre dairy farm harnesses the power of
poop from tens of thousands of cows, to run its barns, offices, cheese
factory and gift shop. What takes this farm one step ahead of the
others is its ability to power its 42 tractor trailers that deliver milk
to nearby states with renewable gas that also comes from animal waste.
"We're self sufficient and we're lowering our carbon footprint" says
Gary Corbett, Fair Oaks Farm CEO.

The process of turning the waste into natural gas by using what are
called anaerobic digesters, has become much more efficient. "We
take the manure from the cows and put it into sealed digester vessels,
the manure is heated to 100 degrees at which the bacteria produces
methane and CO2, which is called biogas. The Biogas is cleaned to
remove the CO2, using water and pressure to create biomethane, which is
then odorized to create renewable natural gas" explains Mark Stoermann
of AMP Americas, an energy company partnering with Fair Oaks Farm to
create the fuel.

The cow power concept is also saving the farm millions of dollars a
year. "We were running all these diesel trucks and we began to look at
the potential of replacing all that diesel with natural gas. Then
we figured out how to create our own natural gas instead of buying the
diesel, so it saves us a lot of money, lowers emissions and helps clean
up air quality in the cities where the trucks deliver" Corbett explains.
“In 2013, we will take personally 2-million gallons of diesel of the
road that we used in 2011 to deliver our milk.” And Corbett says,
the biofuel burns cleanly so its better for the environment.

“With renewable natural gas, using organic waste like we’re doing
here, there really is an unlimited supply as long as we continue to
produce waste products and are able to digest them and convert them into
energy.” says Stoermann.

With 36,000 cows on the farm and million gallons of manure on site, a
constant source of energy is readily available. But the cows
don't get all the credit. Fair Oaks is working with 3000 pigs as
well. While pig waste is not as efficient for making fuel, its
used as an additive to boost the power of the cow waste. So no
waste goes to waste, and there's practically an unlimited supply.
"As long as we keep milking cows, we'll never run out of gas"
Corbett says.

“We’re working with dairy producers and other industries to start to
power their fleets on natural renewable natural gas all through the
United States, and AMP America’s is building out infrastructure to allow
them to be able fuel all up and down the interstate highway
system.” Stoermann adds.

Its a fuel source not only for the farms but for nearby towns as
well. "One cow can power a home," says Erin Fitzgerald, from The
Innovation Center for US Dairy. And since the excess gas can be sold
back to the grid "Its a new source of revenue for dairy farmers" who
have been struggling in recent years, she says.

And there are already investors looking to take this technology
beyond the farm, to make it available for wider use as electricity in
towns and cities.

"Turning farm waste into fuel has amazing potential" says energy
technology consultant Brian Dolrein. "I can imagine a time in the
near future when homes and factories will be powered by it and our cars
will be running on it. It could reduce our dependence on fossil
fuels and foreign oil".

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If cow manure is the future, then go buy up all you can get your hands
on, so to speak, because Obama will subsidize it with billions of
taxpayer dollars. Remember how we were all told how cheap wind and solar
were going to be? Not so cheap anymore.

Animal
manure has been used in several countries for hundreds of years but not
on a large enough scale to supply more than a couple of houses. To
sustain a large operation it would take several herds to supply enough
manure to generate the bio gas needed to run the engines to make
electricity. The one good thing is after it releases the gas it is still
good for replacing nutrients back into the soil.

@GP Russell But,
but, but then they will not be able to run around screaming with their
knee jerk reaction screaming cow manure is causing global warming
and....and.....they will have to find a new torch to bear for a
screaming knee jerk reaction.

They should
have thought of this idea years ago. I remember way back in the dark
ages reading about people who burned the manure from their farm animals
for cooking. Maybe it was forgotten because teachers do not teach
history or about other cultures in school anymore.

Male
bovine fecal matter has been fueling the Obama 24/7/365 campaigner in
chief's presidency for over 4 years. Al Gore's "global warming" agenda
is fueled by male bovine fecal matter. It seems logical that the people
finally realize that the green energy agenda is nothing but
redistribution of wealth, fueled by male bovine fecal matter also.

since
we're already subsidizing 75% of wind "energy?" to keep the cost
competitive, I can easily predict a boondoggle of grant sniffing
opportunists coming out of the manure pile to exploit this crap. I'm
sure the real hold up is there are not any contributors of slimy
politicians in the business yet. I am however, positive we will get
solyndra'd once again.